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Brown v.
Board of Education
Yes, this was an actual com-ment
made by an elementary
school student during a 1997-
1998 study on elementary stu-dent
attitudes toward social
studies instruction. The study
under the direction of Dr.
Melinda Karnes showed that
92% of the third -eighth grade
students surveyed ranked their
social studies classes as unin-teresting
and/or only some-what
interesting. They saw at
most only a weak relationship
between their lives and his-tory.
While I am in no way
suggesting we stop teaching
about George Washington or
Abraham Lincoln, I am sug-gesting
we re-look at what
social studies curriculum we
teach and how we teach it.
We could use the survey
results previously mentioned
as a stepping stone to totally
revamp social studies educa-tion
to include more relevance
to students’ lives, multiple
perspectives, and more minor-ity
connections. However,
for this issue, in light of the
upcoming women’s history
month, we will limit discus-sion
to the relevance of those
findings on approximately 50
percent of the school popula-tion,
girls.
A well-known social scien-tist,
Mary Kay Thompson
Tereault has summarized five
ways in which social studies
texts and the curriculum in gen-eral
portray women. Of course
the most obvious is when the
male experience throughout his-tory
is the only story told with
no mention of the women’s
roles, i.e., male-defined history.
While there has been an attempt
to shift
away from
this per-spective,
with what
is it re-placed?
The most
common is where history is told
from the male perspective, but
now it is noted that women did
play a part, but the implication is
that it was not a significant part,
and therefore not worth discuss-ing.
This is entitled contribu-tion
history. The third ap-proach,
bifocal history, in-volves
describing both male and
female contributions, but contin-ues
to promote the belief that the
male experience was dominant.
The fourth and fifth categories
are histories of women and his-tories
of gender. In the former,
socio-economics and personal
“Why Do We Have to Study
These Old White Guys?
As we draw near the 50th
anniversary of the landmark
Brown decision, perhaps we
should stop and reflect on its
impact on American schools
and society. On May 17, 1954,
the United States Supreme
Court handed down a
unanimous decision stating
that separate schools based
solely on race were unconstitu-tional
. (There is not time here
to delve into the politics in-volved
in Chief Justice Earl
Warren’s dedication to ensure
that this decision was unani-mous.
However, it is interest-ing
and/or unnerving to think
that as controversial as the de-cision
was, what would have
happened had it not been
unanimous? It would well be
worth your time to research
into the behind the scenes poli-tics
of this historical case.)
Most people have a narrow
vision of the Brown Case.
They think of it as one little
girl in Topeka. The case did
focus on Linda Brown, a third
grader who had to walk a mile,
through a railroad switchyard
to get to her bus stop to then be
bussed to a black school, even
though there was a white ele-mentary
school only blocks
from her home. However,
Linda was only one of twenty
children who attempted to en-roll
in white schools in Topeka
that fall and were denied. It
was part of a concerted effort
by the NAACP to bring a law-suit
against Topeka to chal-
(Continued on page 3)
characteristics of women are
recognized, while in the latter
both male and female contri-butions
are interwoven based
on such factors as experience
and accomplishments.
So what teaching ramifica-tions
can come from this
Tereault’s analysis and the
Karnes research? First, inclu-sion
of both male and female
contributions, being sure to
not have the female contribu-tions
appear as a tag along. If
information is presented
chronologically, and not by
importance, this is less likely
to occur. Use multiple
sources, not just texts, and a
variety of teaching methods.
Equal representation is more
likely to happen if you use
videos, online resources, the
library, guest speakers, and
historical societies. Make sure
the classroom environment
reflects the content and both
genders (as well as differing
ethnicities/races) when possi-ble.
Make the unit appear
relevant and inviting to all stu-dents.
History is not just a
story about “old white guys!”
Men, women, and children, of
all colors and nationalities
played important roles in our
history.
Table of Contents
Brown v. Board of Education; History and Old White Guys 1
African American Contributions 2
Susan B. Anthony; The Literature Connection 3
Sin 4
Volume 6, Issue 2 Dr. Jeanne Mather, Editor February 2004

Brown v.
Board of Education
Yes, this was an actual com-ment
made by an elementary
school student during a 1997-
1998 study on elementary stu-dent
attitudes toward social
studies instruction. The study
under the direction of Dr.
Melinda Karnes showed that
92% of the third -eighth grade
students surveyed ranked their
social studies classes as unin-teresting
and/or only some-what
interesting. They saw at
most only a weak relationship
between their lives and his-tory.
While I am in no way
suggesting we stop teaching
about George Washington or
Abraham Lincoln, I am sug-gesting
we re-look at what
social studies curriculum we
teach and how we teach it.
We could use the survey
results previously mentioned
as a stepping stone to totally
revamp social studies educa-tion
to include more relevance
to students’ lives, multiple
perspectives, and more minor-ity
connections. However,
for this issue, in light of the
upcoming women’s history
month, we will limit discus-sion
to the relevance of those
findings on approximately 50
percent of the school popula-tion,
girls.
A well-known social scien-tist,
Mary Kay Thompson
Tereault has summarized five
ways in which social studies
texts and the curriculum in gen-eral
portray women. Of course
the most obvious is when the
male experience throughout his-tory
is the only story told with
no mention of the women’s
roles, i.e., male-defined history.
While there has been an attempt
to shift
away from
this per-spective,
with what
is it re-placed?
The most
common is where history is told
from the male perspective, but
now it is noted that women did
play a part, but the implication is
that it was not a significant part,
and therefore not worth discuss-ing.
This is entitled contribu-tion
history. The third ap-proach,
bifocal history, in-volves
describing both male and
female contributions, but contin-ues
to promote the belief that the
male experience was dominant.
The fourth and fifth categories
are histories of women and his-tories
of gender. In the former,
socio-economics and personal
“Why Do We Have to Study
These Old White Guys?
As we draw near the 50th
anniversary of the landmark
Brown decision, perhaps we
should stop and reflect on its
impact on American schools
and society. On May 17, 1954,
the United States Supreme
Court handed down a
unanimous decision stating
that separate schools based
solely on race were unconstitu-tional
. (There is not time here
to delve into the politics in-volved
in Chief Justice Earl
Warren’s dedication to ensure
that this decision was unani-mous.
However, it is interest-ing
and/or unnerving to think
that as controversial as the de-cision
was, what would have
happened had it not been
unanimous? It would well be
worth your time to research
into the behind the scenes poli-tics
of this historical case.)
Most people have a narrow
vision of the Brown Case.
They think of it as one little
girl in Topeka. The case did
focus on Linda Brown, a third
grader who had to walk a mile,
through a railroad switchyard
to get to her bus stop to then be
bussed to a black school, even
though there was a white ele-mentary
school only blocks
from her home. However,
Linda was only one of twenty
children who attempted to en-roll
in white schools in Topeka
that fall and were denied. It
was part of a concerted effort
by the NAACP to bring a law-suit
against Topeka to chal-
(Continued on page 3)
characteristics of women are
recognized, while in the latter
both male and female contri-butions
are interwoven based
on such factors as experience
and accomplishments.
So what teaching ramifica-tions
can come from this
Tereault’s analysis and the
Karnes research? First, inclu-sion
of both male and female
contributions, being sure to
not have the female contribu-tions
appear as a tag along. If
information is presented
chronologically, and not by
importance, this is less likely
to occur. Use multiple
sources, not just texts, and a
variety of teaching methods.
Equal representation is more
likely to happen if you use
videos, online resources, the
library, guest speakers, and
historical societies. Make sure
the classroom environment
reflects the content and both
genders (as well as differing
ethnicities/races) when possi-ble.
Make the unit appear
relevant and inviting to all stu-dents.
History is not just a
story about “old white guys!”
Men, women, and children, of
all colors and nationalities
played important roles in our
history.
Table of Contents
Brown v. Board of Education; History and Old White Guys 1
African American Contributions 2
Susan B. Anthony; The Literature Connection 3
Sin 4
Volume 6, Issue 2 Dr. Jeanne Mather, Editor February 2004